I've been away from my blog for a while now. A long time. A very long time. Things have changed, Tony Blair isn't the PM anymore, Indiana Jones came back after a dual decade hietus(and made my eyeballs fall from my head in disbelief), the Star Wars Clone Wars TV show is about to start airing and the world mourned Heath Ledger. In my personal life things have been less grand, but far more important to me. My partner became pregnant(not miraculously, i assure you;P) and subsequently gave birth, after 30+ hours of labour and a drug aided C-section, to our son. Somewhat coincidentally, he was born on the 14th of September 2007. Those of you that read my blog will know that my father passed 3 years earler to the day. So, it was with some respect and an honor for me to be able to name my son after my father, albeit via middle name conventions... My son now has one of the coolest names in history! Luca Santino Giorgio Raimondo. My mrs named him. I'm incredibly proud of her.

Also, i'm now a pub landlord with a business to run and a family to look after. I now have my own internet connection. My own Sky+. My own car. My own dish washer and other kitchen utilities. I have a fricken utility room FFS!! I also have a number of games consoles retired to my attic in the hopes of one day having my own games room. A museum of my gaming history. Maybe...

So, what's this got to do with videogames, you may be wondering. Well, the last time I wrote anything of interest I was still waiting for Revenge of the Sith to open in cinemas. I've probably only played a hand full of games in the time between blogs. Chief among them was Resident Evil 4. Most of us will agree that RE 4 is a fantastic game. Likely we'll agree that it was one of the best games of last generation. I enjoyed every action packed hour of it. But i've decided to question the fact it's labelled a survival horror title. It's clearly more of a Action Horror title. You don't ever feel like you're surviving it. You're more... blazing your way through it like some sort of John Q Rambo... rather than a human being in dire peril. In need of survival. Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that i didn't enjoy the change. Because I did, I was happy to play through the entire game numerous times, each time getting easier through my skill and obviously, the near RPG like upgrades to weapons and health. Then i played the mercenaries. Which is a game in itself. In fact, The Club is that sub game in a slightly more extensive package. The quality of Resi 4 is not in doubt. It's a Classic. My question is, is RE a survival horror title any more? I think no. I've also read that RE 5 further spaces itself from the core mechanics of the beloved originals than ever by introducing an(optional) D-control setting not unlike the control scheme used fantstically in Gears of War. Will i like it? i don't know. I can't wait to try it though. And i'm sure Capcom will have the sense to keep the feel of the game distinctly Resident Evil. Hopefully.

I'm also noticing the rise in the "are games Art?" debate. That was nowhere to be seen 3 or 4 years ago. Apparently Bioshock is the nearest Videogames can offer as art. Now it's a good game, no doubt, but it's still just a FPS adventure with great direction and story. But it's also not the first time a game has handled it's story as bioshock does, i mean not directly making you watch a cut scene to explain the narrative. You play the game and the story is drip-fed through note books, newspaper articles that are posted thoughout Rapture. I know which ones have played that way, but I'm asking the questions here! So, i'm asking you... where have you seen that before? As for is it art? I don't think so. Is it artistic? Yes. Though the two are not the same. Games will not be viewed as art until well after we're all dead, as with all artistic vision, Van Gogh was no famous artist in his lifetime. nor was Shakespere, nor Bach or Beethoven. Ask yourself this, do you see a future where people pay to enter a museum to play Bioshock on a 360? Or do you see a future where people reinterpret their particular form of Pac-man? Will the relationship between Ryu and Ken live on through time as a timeless tale of friendship and confrontation?

Answere these few questions and think of some of your own. Maybe I've oversimplified the argument. Or maybe I'll add more to my blog in a few years and we'll know the answeres.

Any way. I'm glad I've played these games, and I'm gonna be playing more to come. Games like Prince of Persia, RE 5, Gears 2. None of them have pretentions about being art. They're being developed by teams that just wanna build a fun, exciting challenging, entertaining product. And that's fine by me.